Openness and privacy in Ontario: an evaluation of the implementation of FIPPA : (The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1987, Chapter 25 and Ontario Regulation 532/87) /

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Abstract

Since the early 1970's, Canadians have expressed many concerns
about the growth of government and its impact on their daily lives. The
public has requested increased access to government documents and
improved protection of the personal information which is held in
government files and data banks. At the same time, both academics and
practitioners in the field of public administration have become more
interested in the values that public servants bring to their decisions and
recommendations. Certain administrative values, such as accountability
and integrity, have taken on greater relative importance.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the implementation of
Ontario's access and privacy law. It centres on the question of whether or
not the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1987,
(FIPPA) has answered the demand for open access to government while at
the same time protecting the personal privacy of individual citizens. It
also assesses the extent to which this relatively new piece of legislation
has made a difference to the people of Ontario.
The thesis presents an overview of the issues of freedom of
information and protection of privacy in Ontario. It begins with the
evolution of the legislation and a description of the law itself. It focuses
on the structures and processes which have been established to meet the
procedural and administrative demands of the Act. These structures and
processes are evaluated in two ways. First, the thesis evaluates how
open the Ontario government has become and, second, it determines how
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carefully the privacy rights of individuals are safeguarded. An analytical
framework of administrative values is used to evaluate the overall
performance of the government in these two areas.
The conclusion is drawn that, overall, the Ontario government has
effectively implemented the Freedom of Information and Protection of
Privacy Act, particularly by providing access to most government-held
documents. The protection of individual privacy has proved to be not only
more difficult to achieve, but more difficult to evaluate. However, the
administrative culture of the Ontario bureaucracy is shown to be
committed to ensuring that the access and privacy rights of citizens are
respected.